Organizing Photo Library Page Hints

Question

I do not run a business, but rather enjoy my computer for home use... so my hints for organizing an iPhoto Library Page relate to personal/home use. I have iPhoto 6.0.5 (316) on my computer.
Regarding the "View" of the Library Page, I do keep my "Film Rolls" labeled and in order. Others in this forum have discussed managing the "Film Rolls" in depth so I will not go into that here.
I believe that what has helped me the most with organizing my photos, and I do have 3074 photos entered right now in iPhoto and have only had this computer since the end of July 2006, is the use of FOLDERS & ALBUMS under the Source list on the left side of the iPhoto Library Page.
I have one FOLDER for each month labeled such as: 2006/07, 2006/08, 2006/09. That way the folders will stay in numerical order in the source list. And at the end of each month I do make a DVD, using iDVD. At the end of the year, I will consolidate those monthly folders for 2006 into ONE folder labeled with an asterisk and the year's date like *2006.
Inside each monthly FOLDER, I have three more FOLDERS separately labeled Family, Friends, General. This helps me to categorize my photos a bit more.
Inside each of these three Family, Friends, General folders, I make ALBUMS of particular happenings like a birthday, Labor Day, or family gathering, and stash the album into the appropriate folder. I will label these albums similar to the folders dates, only I will include the entire date & event such as: 08/02/06 Nellie's Birthday, 08/14/06 Family Reunion, 08/16/06 Day At The Beach. That way those albums will stay in numerical order too within the individual folders. I do keep these photos individually labeled too within the albums. No excuses on labeling photos when you can at least make one broad category name on several photos at once with "Batch Change" and let the Batch Change label & number each of the several photos at one time. That way the "search" feature at the bottom of the iPhoto Library Page can be easily used to locate a photo, or a group of photos.
At the end of every month, I do burn a CD of that month’s still photos for a back-up. I also make a DVD that has fun presentations to share with others, rather than just clicking through still shots on a CD to share the photos. For instance, at the end of the month, with the photos already organized into folders for particular happenings, it only takes a few minutes to put together a slideshow, or to add the photos to a video movie that I had taken during the month, or to make a Quicktime Movie, or even to put together a book in iPhoto, but rather than having the book printed, just make the book into a slideshow that has flipping pages and also has music. Because the photos are already in order in the ALBUMS, getting them into the mode of presentation that you choose takes hardly any time to burn them on to a DVD.
I follow through with the same type of organization [as shared above] when I make the monthly DVD, by using the iDVD theme menu that has the shelves with the THREE photo frames. I title the DVD menu page on top for the month, like September 20006 TOTAL COLLECTION. I label each of those picture frames... yes, you guessed it: Family, Friends, General. In the sub menus for each of those frames, I then place the album presentations for that month, whether it is a slideshow or movie. The labels on the fronts of the actual DVDs also have the same THREE breakdowns with Family, Friends, General, and the names of the movie, or slideshow that was in the album in that category. I also pick out one photo to represent each of the three categories and print that on the label as well.
If anyone has any questions, or comments about this organization for photos in iPhoto Library Page which I have been using, please feel free to share.

Answer 1

OldGal
Are these titles of folders or image files?
Smith/John By The Beach
Smith/John Sitting Down
Smith/Jane Running Up Hill
If they are folder titles then you can drag each folder into the open iPhoto application window to create a new roll with the same name as the folder.
You can also select specific photos in the main library window and use the File->Create Film Roll menu option to create a new roll containing just those photos. (You must be in the main library for that menu option to be active).
Terence's recommendation of Smart Albums is a good way of grouping photos with similar attributes, keywords, date or date range, file name or partial file name, title or partial title, etc.
You can use multiple keywords on one file like John, Joan, jane, etc. then you can find all photo associated with one or all of those keywords keywords by clicking or option-clicking on more than one of those keywords in the Keyword pane.
You can create a test library, import couple of folders into it and then test out the various ways to organize your photos before applying them to your primary library.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.